Tagged: Goodwill Goodies

Goodwill is always a college student’s first stop for everything from vintage sweaters to house furnishings. You can always snag something kitsch for cheap. Sometimes, you luck out and thrift something that actually looks cool.

Yum, just the kind of beat up, worn out dorm sofa we’ve all seen at some point / PHOTO CREDIT BRANDON GIESBRECHT

What if you went in one day and picked up a dusty old painting in a picture frame and found, upon further examination, that it was worth more than $20,000?

A Salvador Dali painting was recently donated anonymously to a Goodwill in Tacoma, Wash., according to CNN. The painting has been put online and will be auctioned off for $21,005. In the spirit of Goodwill, the money from the painting will go toward funding job training for the disabled and disadvantaged.

We can only hope that we’ll find such valuable treasures on our ventures to Goodwill. Most of the time, we find trash that we think is cool. While sometimes it is, other times it’s not. Half of a dirty, threadbare sectional sofa with indentations from the previous owner’s behind, sweaters that smell a little like grandma and look a lot like her, lava lamps that are so old that the lava stays sadly lumped at the bottom of the lamp, beer mugs tainted yellow by age and lack of dish soap—you name it, I’ve seen it. The owners of the items often smile proudly and announce their new vintage find. They fail to recognize the difference between vintage and just old and gross.

The Wayfarers on the Goodwill Goodies site / IMAGE VIA goodwill-goodies.tumblr.com

Luckily, the Tacoma Goodwill, where the Dali was found, has recognized some really valuable vintage finds that they deem too good for the store. These finds go online to their Goodwill Goodies site where they are auctioned off. The site’s most recent posts include vintage mid-century Christmas lights, Ray-Ban Wayfarer Sunglasses (don’t rush to bid, they’ve already been auctioned off), glass perfume bottles and more.

While anyone can visit the site and bid on the items, there’s something about going to the thrift store and sorting through piles of useless items to find that one treasure that’s really gratifying. So next time you visit Goodwill, keep an eye out. Who knows? You might find a Monet hiding in the home decorating section.